May 2026 First Line Revision Story

Featuring Tonnye Fletcher and Music Plants Hope

Today we have Tonnye Fletcher here sharing the revision journey of the first line of her book Music Plants Hope, art by Natalia Bruno, available now for pre-order.

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Thanks, Sara, for inviting me to your First Lines blog! It’s one of my very favorites in the kidlit universe and I’ve told so many people about it! It feels a bit surreal, but so wonderful to be a featured author. I’m excited to share some of the journey of my debut picture book, MUSIC PLANTS HOPE.

This nonfiction story originated with an agent post in the summer of 2020 on Twitter. She posted the video of a concert and said it would be something she would be interested in for a picture book. I set to work immediately (after watching the concert over and over). I wrote three different takes on the concert over the next days/weeks. I had an expository nonfiction piece, a fictional piece that followed one of the plants from the nursery to the healthcare worker’s home, and the piece that finally found a home at Reycraft Books, and has been (amazingly and beautifully) illustrated by Argentinian illustrator, Natalia Bruno.

First Draft, First Lines

I wanted this to be focused on the concert itself, so the first lines began with the string quartet walking onto the stage. If you watch the video, that’s where it starts as well, so I was pretty sure that’s where I wanted my story to begin. I started like this:

Footsteps on the stage . . .

The string quartet bows in their black and white

Their bows are rosined and they are ready to play.

While working with my critique partners and groups, they pointed out that having bows and bows with two different pronunciations that close together was confusing and problematic, so that needed revision.

Also, because I wanted to chronicle the concert itself, it needed to start where the concert started, but my critique partners felt like it needed grounding. It seemed strange to just start with these footsteps on some stage.

Revisions:

I tried to build the grounding into the text itself. But, as you can see, now it feels cumbersome and clunky and definitely interferes with the lyrical flow I’m aiming for:

Footsteps on the stage . . .

At The Gran Liceu Theatre --

An Opera House

In Barcelona, Spain.

The string quartet bows in their black and white.

They haven’t played for an audience in a while --

They have some butterflies in their bellies, but

their bows are rosined and they are ready to play.

Let’s Try Again:

Since that version felt clunky and not fluid and smooth, I tried another technique. I put minimal grounding ideas in an art note:

[Art note: The Gran Liceu Theatre --

An Opera House

In Barcelona, Spain.]

Footsteps on the stage . . .

The string quartet bows in their black and white.

They haven’t played for an audience in a while --

They have some butterflies in their bellies, but

their bows are rosined and they are ready to play.

That was better, but still not quite the feel I wanted – or the detail to set up the concert. So, I added a prologue (and an epilogue) to set the scene and explain what we are about to see. (And the epilogue give a bit more detail and tells what happened to the plants after the concert.) However, when my editor read the book, she wanted to ditch the prologue and epilogue, feeling like it marred the flow. So I took it out in the copy I sent her.

But. . .when the illustrated spreads came back to me after months and months, there was the prologue and the epilogue. Getting those first lines just right can be very tricky. Eventually, I think everyone decided it really was the best way to provide the grounding needed without interrupting the flow of the story covering the concert itself.

Published first lines:

Prologue:

In the Spring of 2020, a pandemic shut down public places around the globe, including concert halls and theaters. Eugenio Ampudia, a Spanish artist, was inspired by nature during the quarantine and brought art, music, and nature together in a grand theater. He worked with plant nurseries and theater management at the Liceu Theatre in Barcelona, Spain to create a “Concert for the Biocene.” Local nursery workers brought 2,292 plants to fill the theater for this special concert.

Footsteps on the stage. . .

The string quartet enters in their black and white.

They haven’t played for an audience in months.

Butterflies may fill their bellies, but

their bows are rosined and they are ready to play.

While prologues and epilogues are unusual in picture books, sometimes they are exactly what is needed to allow the story to sing without being bogged down.

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Revision tip: what a brilliant idea to have a prologue for a lyrical non fiction picture book. As Tonnye notes, it’s a great way to get the reader essential information without breaking up the flow of the first lines. This is one of those tips that isn’t applicable to every story, but if you’re writing lyrical non fiction, it’s definitely something to consider.

If you read and enjoy Music Plants Hope, leave a review! If you need help getting started writing a review, read this blog post.

If you’ve got a book coming out this year and you’d like to be a featured author or you’d simply like your book included in the collection, please let me know!

If you’re interested in feedback on a first line, fill out this anonymous form, and I’ll analyze submissions the next month.

Check out the PB First Lines archives! There are more than four years’ worth of collections now.